


The Hard Way

by Midnight_Ophelia



Category: The Avengers (Marvel Movies)
Genre: Fluff, Frostiron Fest 2013, M/M, Mortal!Loki, Snarky Loki, Snarky Tony, rightfully concerned Pepper Potts
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-12-17
Updated: 2013-12-17
Packaged: 2018-01-05 00:20:36
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,229
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1087361
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Midnight_Ophelia/pseuds/Midnight_Ophelia
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>"Loki is banished to Earth as a mortal, and Odin was, as per usual, extremely cryptic about what would ultimately restore his powers. Good news, Loki’s not going to be blowing up any cities anytime soon. Bad news, Avengers get to babysit."</p>
            </blockquote>





	The Hard Way

**Author's Note:**

  * For [suckitdomitian](https://archiveofourown.org/users/suckitdomitian/gifts).



> This was honestly very difficult to write because there were so many different options and ways of going about this prompt. The ending ended up being very open-ended, but I couldn't figure out how to reach a proper conclusion. 
> 
> I hope this was what you wanted!

When Loki had been hauled in chains into the throne room to stand in front of the All-Father and to receive punishment, he had expected a lot of things. He had expected the outrage, he had expected the lecture, and he had expected the prison sentence he had been met with. But what he hadn’t anticipated was that after what must have been a year spent rotting in the dungeons, was to be tossed down to Earth once more, stripped of his Godhood, like something that had run out of its uses.

However, that is exactly what happened, much to Loki’s utmost dismay.

It had been Thor’s idea, which came to little surprise to the God of Chaos as it seemed that Thor did everything to spite him. Odin had initially wanted to keep him there for the rest of his days, but when Thor had come to him to make a bargain, that Loki be treated in a similar manner as he, Odin had reluctantly agreed.

“If he were to spend time amongst mortals as one himself, perhaps he could learn better of their importance. He could learn that he is no more important than anyone else. Without his magic he’ll have no choice.”

When it was all said and done, he was taken from his small cell and he was led to the recently restored Bifrost, surrounded by guards with more than enough pointy objects to take him down if he should fight back, where his armor was stripped from his body and where Odin’s hand touched the inside of his forearm, a rune marked his skin. There was an empty, sick feeling in the pit of Loki’s stomach when he could no longer feel his magic residing within him.

“So you are to cast me to Earth, to wander around until you see fit?” Loki asked in little more than a hiss. “Why not just kill me?”

“Because as you have heard, Thor speaks out on your behalf.” Odin did not sound particularly reassured about the crown prince’s idea but it was clear that he was going to lose the fight between Thor and Frigga. “So I give you this final chance. If you fail it, you will remain on Earth and die as a mortal with a mortal lifespan and of mortal causes. Without your power, you will have no way of enacting havoc on Earth’s people.”

Loki was torn between wrath and gut-wrenching despair. Stuck in that place with all those mortals…

“What makes you think that without my power, I cannot still kill them?”

Odin gave him a very small, very grim smile. “That is why you will not be left to your own devices.”

Thor appeared at Loki’s side, face serious as he clapped a hand on Loki’s shoulder, and almost immediately Loki realized what Odin had meant by that. “You mean to have me guarded by that lot of fools?”

“It’s far better than you wandering around on your own,” Thor said matter-of-factly.  “With you mortal and with them around you, I hope that you’ll learn from your mistakes, brother.”

“Doubtful…” Loki muttered as Heimdall started the machine that would propel them to Earth and to New York City. A moment later, he and Thor disappeared in a flash of bright light.

~*~

“This is an extremely horrible idea, just so you all know,” Tony Stark said, sitting in the conference room with his feet up on the large table that occupied the room. Around it was the rest of the team, all with varying degrees of caution, and some with outright hostility. All of it was aimed at Fury, whom simply met it all with a stern expression.

“Yes, I know your opinion on the matter, Mr. Stark,” he said, not even bothering to look in his direction, which Tony found to be rather rude, “but this is a better option than just letting him run around New York without having to answer to anyone, powerless or not.”

“I’m with Stark on this one,” Barton seconded, elbow on table and chin resting in hand. Despite being indoors there was a pair of dark sunglasses perched on the end of his nose. “Can’t we, I don’t know, just hand him over to the FBI or something? Anything’s better than having to put up with him here.”

“As brilliant as the idea sounds, we can’t. This is between us and Asgard. Loki won’t be leaving the building and unless someone here decides to rat us out, no one in the outside world will know about this deal,” Fury countered, arms crossed and staring at Barton with his good eye. Having one eye didn’t make the stare any less intimidating.

“Hey, just saying.” Clint threw his hands up and leaned back in his chair. “I just think it’s a risky move.”

Beside him, Natasha’s expression was unreadable and Tony could bet she was already thinking of a thousand ways to kill Loki in his sleep. On her right sat Steve, looking calmer than everyone else in the room. He obviously didn’t like the idea one bit but he could see the logic in both sides of the argument. Next to Tony on his left was Bruce. Unsurprisingly, he looked very uncomfortable. After all, there had been a Loki-sized crater in Tony’s front room to show just how much Bruce, or rather his bigger, greener alter ego, felt about the God.

“Fair enough, but Thor will be the one mostly keeping an eye on him. I highly doubt that he would just let his little brother do as he pleases.”

Tony filtered out the rest of the conversation, sipping his coffee and staring into space, and he thought back to his last meeting with Loki. He’d been mildly amused at the request for the earlier offered drink and had been half tempted to give it to him just because. The man had balls, that was for sure. The others had been less amused by the quip as they hadn’t been there to witness the original offer in person.

Oh well, didn’t matter. They had all hoped that would be the last that they would see of him. For Tony, he was more willing to see Loki again. Call it a curiosity. Loki might have been batshit crazy, but Tony had a need to study everything, including so-called Gods from outer space.

Tony blinked out of his musing when the door to the conference room swung open and a woman poked her head in, announcing that Thor had returned, along with his brother.

The tension that went through the room’s occupants could have been sliced with a knife.

A moment later, Thor appeared through the doorway, looking every inch as tall, broad, and blond as he did a year ago. The solemn expression on his face matched well with everyone else’s. They watched as he turned slightly, reaching behind him, and tugged a familiar figure forward.

Loki looked much like he did before, if a bit more bedraggled. His dark hair was longer and hung around his thin, pale face in waves, and he was dressed in leather pants like he had worn on Earth but it was paired with a simple green linen shirt instead of the armor and leather that had covered his torso and shoulders. Sharp green eyes stared at Thor coolly as thin lips grew thinner with disgruntlement. He crossed his arms over his chest and his gaze flickered from Thor as he studied each face with the same amount of distaste. Until, that is, he reached Tony’s face. Tony thought for a moment he saw a glint of something else. Was it amusement? Annoyance? Curiosity? It was hard to say as the stare moved on, leading Tony to believe he might have just imagined the whole thing.

“I appreciate that you would do this,” Thor spoke, voice rumbling like the thunder he controlled. “I know that it’s not something you would like to do.”

“It was either that or have him running around New York. This was the better option out of the two,” Fury replied dryly. “We have readied a cell for his time here.”

“If you were just going to put me back into a prison, you could have at least kept me in Asgard,” Loki said, speaking for the first time since he’d entered, and directing it towards his brother.

“He has a point,” Thor sighed, reluctant to agree. “I hope to reform him for the better, and I think it would be more likely to work if he were to spend time with you. Not as friends, but for him to learn from you. He is mortal; he cannot do any harm by his hands as he is.”

Okay, now there really was tension in the room.

“So who do you suppose will be playing babysitter, then?”

No surprise that absolutely no one volunteered when the question came up.

Tony looked around the room with an amused smile on his lips. ‘Playing babysitter’ to the very man who had destroyed the better part of New York and tried to take over the Earth; this hadn’t been on the list of things he’d wanted to do. But as he sat there, waiting for someone to speak up, Tony realized that something would have to be done.

“If no one else will do it, I guess I will.” Apparently no one had expected that as every head in the room swiveled to look at him like something unpleasant had just shown up on his face. “What?”

“Are you sure that’s a good idea, Tony?” Steve questioned with all seriousness.

Tony shrugged. “Someone’s got to watch him and I didn’t see anyone else raising their hand. Besides, I’d kind of like to get to know our impromptu guest. You know, figure out why he’s nuts and all of that fun stuff.”

“How very noble of you,” Loki sneered, picking at an invisible loose thread on his shirt.

“Yep, that’s me; noble.”

Thor was smiling at Tony. “I thank you.”

“This is all going to go horribly,” Clint drawled.

“Oh probably,” Tony agreed.

Actually, it went better than expected. But that wasn’t saying much.

~*~  

“Are you out of your mind?”

Tony sighed for what felt like the millionth time since he’d come home to a newly renovated Stark Tower and found Pepper at the door, looking supremely concerned. He supposed he should have expected that when he’d called her after the meeting. She’d been so upset by the news; she hadn’t stayed on the phone for very long, promising an ‘intervention’ for the sake of his safety. What she probably hadn’t really expected him to do was bring his new project home with him.

Loki appeared through the elevator doors with a bored expression. When he spotted Pepper a slow smirk formed on his lips, and Pepper took a step back with wide eyes that only made Loki’s smirk widen. “Lady Pepper Potts, I presume.”

“No, no, no, no.” Pepper continued to back up, shaking her hands in front of herself frantically. “If he’s going to be here, I’m leaving. Right now.”

“Aw, Pep, you aren’t bailing on me, are you?” By the look on her face, Tony knew that she was.

“I’m not risking myself on this one. This man tried to destroy New York! He’s killed people!”

“Yes, I have.” Loki was not helping. Not that Tony figured he would.

Pepper made a ‘you see!’ gesture towards Loki. “This is one of the stupidest things you’ve done.”

“So I’ve been told. Still, no one else was going to do it.” Tony didn’t blame her for being worried. Hell, he was thinking the same thing. He was taking a huge risk by having Loki there, human or not. His only saving grace was that if Loki tried to slit his throat in the middle of the night, Tony would have a better chance at preventing it.

Pepper took a deep breath, closed her eyes, and pressed her fingers to her temples. “You aren’t doing this on your own?”

Tony shook his head. “He’s staying here, but the whole gang is planning on paying visits to make sure I’m not going to die in the shower or something. Loki has no power, he’s completely mortal; the only thing he has right now is sarcasm and a bad attitude.”

Loki’s smirk had gone the way of the dodo and he was staring, more like glowering, at Tony. Tony thumbed at him. “See?”

“This is still a bad idea. Why didn’t they just lock him up?”

“Because Thor wants his little brother to learn some humility, and maybe not try and destroy cities.” That didn’t seem likely. “And apparently interacting with us and having some freedom will help.”

Tony caught Loki rolling his eyes.

“Either way, I’m staying elsewhere for the time.”

“Alright, then. I guess I’ll see you after this.” With Pepper gone, Tony found himself completely alone with Loki. Which was a bit awkward. Loki stood next to him, staring openly. “What?”

“I will need a room, will I not?”

Tony sighed and ran a hand through his hair. “Yes, you’ll need a room. Follow me.”

~*~

Over the course of the next few days that followed, Tony had to deal with Loki’s constant staring that felt very much like being sized up. Loki didn’t speak with him often, preferring to hide away in his borrowed room, and when he did most of the words that left his mouth was biting sarcasm. Having Loki around was like dealing with a bitchy teenager 24-7 and it slowly started to get on Tony’s nerves.

Once a day, one of the Avengers would come pay a visit to the tower and Tony had to contend with hostile staring matches between whoever showed up and Loki.  And the thing was that Loki could easily slip into the guest room Tony had set him up with, but no, he preferred to stay out in plain sight just to be difficult. Tony made the suggestion that he leave the room once but it went completely unheeded. Predictably, of course. He was convinced now that Loki did it just to make things as uncomfortable as possible for everyone involved.

Currently, that was lurking around Tony’s workshop, inspecting everything he came across like a curious feline and generally making Tony very nervous.

“Interesting technology,” Loki mused as he ran his fingers through a holographic screen.

“Thank-you, I think,” Tony replied, tinkering with a suit he was working on and every once in a while casting Loki a cautious glance.

“We have similar things in Asgard that is much more advanced.”

So much for the compliments. “Well you guys have been around for thousands of years, cut me some slack here.”

Loki continued, “Nonetheless, I’m impressed you’ve managed them as well as you have. You are more ahead than most of your mortals.”

Okay, that was a compliment.

~*~

More days passed and Tony had to admit he was surprised that there had been no attempts on his life so far. On top of that some members of the team had started relaxing around him. Not too much, but more than they had been so that was something. Still didn’t trust Loki as far as they could throw him but hey. What had Tony perplexed was why Loki hadn’t done anything villain-y since staying with him. It did make Tony suspicious since it was very much out of character for someone who had tried to take over the world and threw him through a window. Loki was certifiably batshit but there hadn’t been any sign of it as of yet.

That’s what made Tony decide to venture to Loki’s room.

Loki sat by the window, staring out of it and barely giving Tony any indication that he’d even heard him enter. Tony cleared his throat.

“What do you want?” Loki questioned.

“It occurred to me that you haven’t tried killing me once since you showed up. Hell, you haven’t even tried to escape or anything. I want to know why.”

“If you haven’t noticed, Stark, I am without any power here,” came Loki’s dry response.

“So? What’s stopping you from using other means?” Tony was determined now and he wasn’t going to let Loki’s sass get in the way. Tony covered the distance and stared down at the top of Loki’s dark hair.

“I don’t want to remain a mortal. I want my magic back, and surely if I so much as laid a finger on you or your precious allies, I would be condemning myself even further to this life. My goal is simply do what I need and get out of this place. Nothing more, nothing less.” It sounded truthful enough if the morose expression on Loki’s pale and angular face was any give away.

“And here I thought it was because you liked me.”

As soon as the words left his mouth, Loki’s lips were pressed upon his.

Alright, that was odd.

When Loki pulled away, he eyed Tony’s puzzled face with a bit of satisfaction. “I find you more tolerable than others, if that makes you feel any better.” His eyes narrowed. “If you tell anyone that I did this, I will not hesitate to eviscerate you for it.”

Tony could only nod.

~*~

A week went by and then a month as Tony continued his life with Loki in his home, and over the month he couldn’t stop thinking over all the possible reasons why he had kissed him. Yeah, Tony was charming and good looking, he wasn’t going to lie, but being smooched by Loki had been, well unexpected. Not bad, just…odd.

If it meant though that if and when Loki got his powers back that Tony wouldn’t be on his hit list, he couldn’t complain.

It was shortly after that they –The Avengers- had a run-in some of Doom’s Doombots in the heart of the city. The bastards where everywhere, like rats skittering around in the dark, making it exceedingly difficult to pin them down when more just kept showing up once they thought that they had the things taken care of.  It was tiring and it was annoying.

And Tony nearly got hit by a beam of shining, sparking energy.

It would have hit him too if it wasn’t for the thin, but muscular, form that currently laid sprawled over him.

“Loki?”

“Stark,” Loki greeted as he pushed himself up and off of Tony’s chest and brushing thick, dark hair out of his face.

“Did you just save my life?”

“Quite possibly,” Loki replied.

“Why?” That was the question of the century wasn’t it?

Loki shrugged. “I do not know.”

A moment later Thor appeared beside them, grinning widely and having took out the Doombot that had attacked.

Loki stared at him. “What is it?”

“You protected someone,” he said.

“Yes, but do not look for a repeat performance.”

When Loki had walked off, Thor turned to Tony. “Whatever it is that you’re doing for my brother; it appears to be working.”

Tony scratched his head. “I don’t even know what I’m doing.”

Thor patted Tony’s shoulder hard enough that Tony stumbled forward at it. “It does not matter. I’m just glad.”

“Yeah, yeah…”

This was just going to be a big, complicated situation…


End file.
